Blink, and you might miss Jacqueline Legere speeding down the Crashed Ice course in Edmonton.
At 26, Canada’s top female athlete in the fastest sport on skates is already a veteran on the circuit, having risen through the ranks of Ice Cross Downhill about as quickly as she can navigate an icy 455-metre, obstacle-filled downhill track — which is to say, really fast. The native of St. George, Ont., goes into the final leg of the 2017–18 Ice Cross Downhill World Championship Saturday night as the reigning back-to-back world champion with her eye on the never-before-done three-peat.
272,155 kg of scaffolding, 1,600 sheets of plywood 150 workers spent 10,000 hours putting everything together. Ready for the #redbullcrashedice season final on March 09-10! pic.twitter.com/9sdc1vP7CX
— Red Bull Crashed Ice (@CrashedIce) March 7, 2018
She’ll have her work cut out for her. American skater Amanda Trunzo has an easier path to the podium’s top spot this year, but then again, Legere doesn’t tend to shy away from a challenge.
The extreme sports aficionado has a resumé that resembles most peoples’ bucket lists — think skydiving, wakeboarding, surfing, dirt biking, parkour and just about anything with a jump — which lends itself perfectly to her second career as a professional stuntwoman with a growing IMDB page.
Wingsuit weekend festival @startskydivingohio: @braydenjones1 @chicksthatrip_ @squirrel.ws #skydive #wingsuit #boogie #squirrelsuit #chicksthatrip #skydivegirl #fly #free
265 Likes, 4 Comments – Jacqueline (@jacquelinelegere) on Instagram: “Wingsuit weekend festival @startskydivingohio: @braydenjones1 @chicksthatrip_ @squirrel.ws…”
In fact, you may have already seen her work without even knowing it, as she has appeared in shows like Orphan Black and 12 Monkeys and movies including The Strain, Suicide Squad and the newly-released Molly’s Game, to name a few.
All this, while showing young women and girls that they belong on the extreme-sports landscape just as much as the boys do.
“I think in the past few years, the media side of girls sports has gone up, so it shows them that it’s not just a male-dominated sport and that girls do it, too,” said Legere, who co-founded an initiative called Chicks That Rip a few years ago with exactly that in mind. “I think just the fact that we have social media these days, it’s so easy to find other women out there doing extreme sports.
“There’s lots of young girls out there that are inspired by me, so it’s a really cool feeling to have, that you’re inspiring younger generations to want to do things, and showing them that it’s possible as a female.”
We talked to Legere about her careers, how she trains, and the state of the women’s Crashed Ice as she prepares for Saturday’s big showdown in Edmonton.
SN: What is your mindset going into this weekend’s race?
JL: It’ll be a bit of a challenge to get the three-peat, but that’s kind of how it was last year. I just need to focus on myself and focus on having fun and doing my best. I know it’ll be a great weekend regardless, but I’m going to do my best and hope that I get the three-peat.
Could you walk me through a typical day of training for you for this kind of event?
When I’m at home, generally I have a training schedule where a bunch of us meet at Joyride 150, which is an indoor bike park. They let us train there on our rollerblades and inline skates, so we’ll go there and hit the jumps and comp tracks and stuff to kind of transition.
Jumps…we have them…what are you waiting for? #toomuchfun
1,177 Likes, 27 Comments – Joyride150 (@joyride150) on Instagram: “Jumps…we have them…what are you waiting for? #toomuchfun”
I also do this skating treadmill called the Skating Lab in Burlington once a week, which is really cool because you can put an incline on the treadmill and it’s like you’re skating uphill, and then you can do sprints and change the speed and really focus on technique. And then I just keep working out, stay fit.
First @redbullcrashedice race is just over a month away!! @jacquelinelegere and @croxy88 are getting fired up!! #training #treadmill #skating #crashedice #thumbsup
43 Likes, 1 Comments – The Skating Lab – Burlington (@theskatinglab_burlington) on Instagram: “First @redbullcrashedice race is just over a month away!! @jacquelinelegere and @croxy88 are…”
You got into the women’s Crashed Ice circuit at almost the ground level. What changes have you seen since you got into it?
I’ve seen tremendous changes. When I first started, [women] were only allowed to do the Canadian [races], so that was just one event a year, so to take a lot of time to train for just one weekend was not the easiest thing to do. So then eventually we got to do Canada and the U.S., which was cool because then it was two stops a year. And then with that, just more ice time and more practice has really improved the girls’ skill level. And then… two, three years ago when we got to start doing the whole [international] tour, that was incredible. It’s something that you can really work towards because it’s a whole season and it’s just more practice, more ice time, the skill level has gone up so much.
Super fun weekend in @skisaariselka Thank you for hosting an awesome race! Ended up 2nd after a close race! Huge congrats to @maxieplante on her 1st place finish and to @marjutklemola for a podium finish! @mark_roe @bfgoodrichtires @myersorleansnissan R.T Systems inc. @theskatinglab_burlington @playtruehockey @foxracingcanada @chicksthatrip_ @teamltd @bladetechhockey @penny.and.abbys.arbonne @smithoptics
437 Likes, 14 Comments – Jacqueline (@jacquelinelegere) on Instagram: “Super fun weekend in @skisaariselka Thank you for hosting an awesome race! Ended up 2nd after a…”
What kind of a response have you had since co-founding Chicks That Rip?
I try to host events and stuff like that just to get groups of girls out. I have girls that message me, “Hey, I’ve always wanted to try this sport — how do I do that?” I’ll host days of different activities for girls who have never done it and also girls who do it all the time, and it’s just a good atmosphere for girls to be hanging out and wake boarding or biking or stuff like that.
I’d love to hear more about your career as a stuntwoman. How did you get into that?
My boyfriend’s family are all in the business — they’re pretty big in Toronto. Another stunt coordinator needed a soccer player for Degrassi, and there were no girls in their system that were my size and had soccer on their resumé, so it worked out really well for me getting into the industry. So that was my first job, on Degrassi!
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What kind of stunts are you typically doing?
It’s always different. It can be fighting, it can be running through town doing parkour-type stuff, or driving, or just getting shot or shooting guns, anything. Wire works, high falls, fire burns, lots of stuff.
I really love it. It keeps you on the toes and it’s always something different, fresh and new every time.
Sk8 or die Thank you to everyone who helped out and made this happen! #fireburn #burnbabyburn #skateboard #stunts #humantorch
214 Likes, 4 Comments – Jacqueline (@jacquelinelegere) on Instagram: “Sk8 or die Thank you to everyone who helped out and made this happen! #fireburn #burnbabyburn…”
You sound pretty fearless. Is there anything that scares you?
I’m usually pretty good at knowing my skill level and whether or not I’m able to do things…. So, yeah, there’s definitely things that scare me — when I try a new line rollerblading or a trick that I haven’t done before.
What would you say is the most extreme thing you’ve ever done?
I would definitely say Crashed Ice. I never thought I would be here, I never thought I would be a world champion at something. Just how far I’ve come — that’s something I’m pretty proud of.